Sailing back from France

[Lightwave395]

Here’s a note for anyone curious about bringing a boat in from France in the current situation:

I finally went over to Roscoff from Plymouth last week to bring my boat back to Falmouth from Arzal, my Brittany Ferries ticket originally booked in February was on revision 12… I was unfortunately a day later than planned and unable to take advantage of a kind offer from another forumite for which I’m grateful.
There was an anomaly in that at the time ( It seems to have changed) no foot passengers were allowed but bicycles were, so I bought a £15 bike locally and used it to get on and off the ferry !

Boarding checks were minimal with C19 test and Vaccine certificates checked ( I had a same day test for £190) We arrived on time in Roscoff at 0700 and again with what seemed a casual check on documents I was stamped into France.

A bus, 2 trains and a taxi later I arrived at the boat, which seemed in good shape, in Arzal at 1300 and as the tides and lock openings weren’t in sync I went through the lock at 2000 that same evening ready for an 0500 departure to Quiberon next day for provisioning, thence off back to Roscoff to sort out exiting France.

I was amazed to find my £15 bike was still chained to the bike rack by the bus stop in Roscoff !

I commend the marina at Roscoff, extremely helpful – thank you Veronique, I asked about a Covid test, she said when would you like one, I said asap please, she phoned me 30 mins later and said come up to the office where I was tested by the local equivalent of an SRN at the office, for free, the result was emailed later that evening. She also said they have a phone number for border police but I should go to the Ferry terminal.

The next morning, I was up early and at the Brittany Ferries terminal next to the marina as a ferry arrived, I hung around for an hour while arrivals all cleared then found a helpful Brittany Ferries staff member who walked me through into ‘no mans land’ to the border police offices and explained my situation. They asked when I was leaving, I said later today, they gave me an exit stamp and I walked back to the marina to get the boat ready.
Apparently if you phone the number given, you will get checked out but it can take 48 hrs or more.
Apologies for the ‘long winded’ story, anyone wanting any more detail fell free to contact me

 

[Poignard]

Brilliant!

I was going to ask if you had any encounter with customs at Roscoff when you entered Roscoff but as you only had an old bike and a bag I don't suppose there was much to declare.

 

[Lightwave395]

Brilliant!

I was going to ask if you had any encounter with customs at Roscoff when you entered Roscoff but as you only had an old bike and a bag I don't suppose there was much to declare.

Arrival at Roscoff was amusing, I was the only bike on board... They let me off first - there were probably 60 cars, 4 trucks and several camper vans on board and I was first at the passports, some cars appeared to be stopped at customs but I just cycled through. The bag was large, heavy and was strapped to a long piece of wood I'd fixed to the rack. It was so heavy that every bump almost turned it into a unicycle !!

The passports guy asked me where I was going, I said Arzal, he said what, on that !

 

[Ningaloo]

I recently sailed to St Malo from Jersey. We arrived within 72hrs of the free Jersey PCR tests and all crew were double vaccinated.
I had emailed marina in advance who sent a map to allow me to find the immigration office after arrival.
I was flying a Q flag and was met on arrival by a dory who wanted to know if we had covid passports. Having confirmed we did, they showed us to our berth without further questions.
The immigration office took some finding at the empty ferry port but we eventually found an officer who seemed rather surprised to see us. Passports and hardcopy of NHS vaccination certificates were handed over and phones were shown to demonstrate PCR test then we got rather faint stamps in our passport and were free to leave. No further isolation.

My partner needed a PCR test to return to UK which was obtained free of charge in Brest.

When weather allows we will be crossing to Spain where the marina has confirmed no PCR test is required (for those with double vaccination).

 

[Sandy]

Here’s a note for anyone curious about bringing a boat in from France in the current situation:

I finally went over to Roscoff from Plymouth last week to bring my boat back to Falmouth from Arzal, my Brittany Ferries ticket originally booked in February was on revision 12… I was unfortunately a day later than planned and unable to take advantage of a kind offer from another forumite for which I’m grateful.
There was an anomaly in that at the time ( It seems to have changed) no foot passengers were allowed but bicycles were, so I bought a £15 bike locally and used it to get on and off the ferry !

Thanks for posting, it is good to hear from somebody who has gone through the system.

 

[Koeketiene]

When weather allows we will be crossing to Spain where the marina has confirmed no PCR test is required (for those with double vaccination).

Slight thread drift:
I too am waiting to cross to Spain.
No PCR test is required when you have had two vaccination shots.
However, two weeks must have elapsed after your second shot (or 4 weeks if you had the one-dose Janssen vaccine).

 

[Ningaloo]

Now in Spain where the marina check-in was no different to pre-Brexit. SSR document and passports photocopied but not the Schengen entry page.
No covid details asked for.
Masks in use in all public spaces.